On its face, a 3-way toggle switch is simple—up is the neck pickup, middle is both pickups, and down is the bridge pickup.

Using a 3-way toggle is one thing, but we think it’s important for guitarists to understand what’s going on inside of their instruments. When you know more about how your guitar works, you’re more empowered to care for and troubleshoot your guitar when something’s amiss.

In this blog post, we’re focusing on—you guessed it—the 3-way toggle switch. Keep reading to learn what it is, read up on the different types of 3-way toggle switches, and find out how to wire one up correctly.

What are Switches?

Briefly put, a switch creates or breaks an electrical connection. A common example is a lightswitch, which is also the most basic type of switch. It’s on, or it’s off. A connection is made, or it’s broken. Specifically, a lightswitch is a type of switch that’s called single pole, single throw (SPST).

In a guitar, a single SPST switch may be used to turn individual pickups on or off (e.g., the pickup selection on a Fender Cyclone), engage custom wiring features like a built-in fuzz, or a kill switch (i.e., a switch that mutes your guitar completely).

What is a 3-Way Toggle Switch?

As the name implies, a 3-way toggle switch is, well, a toggle switch with three positions that “click” into place. Generally, 3-way toggle switches are used to switch between two pickups in a guitar (neck and bridge).

Common Guitars with 3-Way Toggle Switches

Arguably, the most famous guitar that uses a 3-way toggle switch is the Gibson Les Paul (and the majority of Gibson’s 2-pickup guitar models, like the SG). Other common guitars include the Fender Jazzmaster, the Fender PJ Mustang Bass, and various models from brands like Ibanez, Jackson, and more.

3-Way Toggle vs. 3-Way Blade Switches vs. 3-Way Slide Switch

Many major guitar manufacturers use 3-way toggle switches, but toggle switches aren’t the only 3-way switching option available to guitarists. Other types include blade switches and slide switches.

The Fender Telecaster is an example of a guitar that often uses a 3-way blade switch rather than a toggle. Fewer guitars use 3-way slide switches to switch between two pickup positions, but the Fender Mustang uses them to control pickup and phase selection.

Ultimately, the results you’ll get from each type of switch are the same, though the instructions for wiring them up will be different. In this article, our focus is on the 3-way toggle switch because it’s rather unique to the guitar world.

The Anatomy of a 3-Way Toggle Switch

Before we talk about the types of 3-way toggle switches or how to wire them up, let’s define some key terms. We’ll explain these as they relate to a single pole, single throw (SPST) on-off switch, which is the most basic type of switch.

Pole: The number of circuits controlled by the switch. An SPST switch is single pole because a light is either on or off.

Throw: The number of connections a pole can have. An SPST switch is single throw because the pole can either be connected or disconnected.

Lug/Terminal: The pieces of metal to which you solder cables. These often have a small hole in them through which you can feed a wire before soldering. On an SPST switch, you would have two lugs. In one position, the two lugs will be connected and a current will run through them. In the other position, the lugs will be disconnected and no current will run through them.

Ground: A guitar switch (and the rest of the guitar circuit) needs to be grounded to prevent noise. The most common 3-way toggle switches have a specific lug for your ground wire.

Types of 3-Way Toggle Switches

Just as there are different types of 3-way switches (e.g., toggle, blade, slider), there are different types of 3-way toggle switches. The ones you’re most likely to see—from most to least common—are Switchcraft, box, and mini-toggle.

Switchcraft Style

The Switchcraft 3-way toggle switch is the classic Les Paul 3-way switch. While it’s sometimes referred to as a double pole switch, it’s technically two SPST (on-off) switches next to each other.

It has two poles (one for each pickup) and two throws, which are connected, usually by two lugs being bent together. When the toggle is in the middle position, both pickups are connected, so both are on in parallel. When the toggle is up or down, the connection of one of the pickups is broken, and the signal for only one of the pickups will pass through.

There are different types of Switchcraft 3-way toggle (long, short, right-angle/l-type), all of which are wired the same. Which one you have often depends on how much space is in your guitar cavity.

Common Import 3-Way Box Toggle Switches

You might find that your import guitar’s 3-way toggle doesn’t look like the Switchcraft style mentioned above. If that’s the case, you’re likely working with a 3-way box toggle switch. These are more commonly found in guitars made overseas and are known as on-on-on DPDT switches.

These function very similarly to the more traditional Switchcraft-style switch. This type of import box toggle has four lugs—one side has a single ground lug and the other side should have three lugs. The lug in the middle is your output and the two on either side are for your neck and bridge pickup, respectively.

The downside to the 3-way box toggle switch is that—unlike the Switchcraft style—it’s nearly impossible to repair if something goes wrong. The good news is that these switches are affordable and easy to find.

3-Way Mini Toggle (DPDT)

3-way mini toggle switches are the least common option for 2-way pickup switching on guitars. You’re more likely to see 3-way mini toggle switches used for push-pull pots, but occasionally used for pickup selection.

If you’re looking for a 3-way mini toggle switch that can be used for 2-way pickup switching, find an on-on-on double pole double throw (DPDT) switch.

Wiring up a 3-way mini toggle is relatively simple, but some guitarists say this type of toggle can create a loud “pop” when switching, which is one of the reasons we don’t recommend using 3-way mini toggles for pickup selection.

3-way mini toggles have six lugs—three on the left and three on the right. To wire up your guitar with a 3-way mini toggle, you would start by bridging each lug on the left to the adjacent right lug, turning it into three connection points vs. six.

From there you wire it up like you would the 3-way box toggle switch. The group of lugs on one end will be soldered to the neck pickup, the other far end to the bridge, and the middle is your output.

Basic Step-by-Step Guide to Wiring a 3-Way Toggle Switch

If you know how to solder, wiring up a 3-way toggle switch to select between two pickups is fairly simple. However, if you’re an absolute beginner, we highly recommend learning the basics in our free Pickup Installation 101 Course or our “How to Solder” blog post.

Preparing for Installation

Before you get started with your 3-way toggle switch installation, ensure that you have the correct toggle switch, pickups, a 40W soldering iron, and solder. You may also want some needle-nose pliers, desoldering braid and/or pump, tweezers, and possibly flux.

How to Identify the Different Terminals

To properly wire up your 3-way toggle switch, you’ll need to know which terminal (aka lug) is which. This can vary depending on your toggle type (long, short, or right-angle/l-type) and manufacturer.

If your 3-way toggle should have three lugs on one side (or row) and two lugs on the other side, the side with two lugs is the output and the side with three lugs has ground in the middle and soldering points for your pickup on either side of it.

You may instead have a 3-way toggle switch that has one lug on one side and four on the other. In this case, the side with one lug is the ground. On the other side, the two middle are output, so you’ll want to bend those together. The two outer lugs are for your neck and bridge pickups.

Here are some ways to remember which lug is which:

Ground

• Can be on its own side or between two other lugs
• Is always one lug (never two bent together)
• Is often longer and/or thicker than the other lugs

Output

• Can be on its own side or between two other lugs
• Is usually two lugs that are bent together

Pickups

• Will always be on the outside of its side or row
• Will have either ground or output in between
• Should never be bent together

If you’re still having trouble identifying the lugs on your switch, check the manufacturer’s website for a detailed diagram.

Two Humbucker, One Volume, One Tone, One 3-Way Toggle

Now that we know which lug is which, let’s take a look at a simple two pickup wiring diagram with one primary volume and one primary tone control.

Soldering Output

First things first, we want to bend the two output lugs together. This terminal will be soldered to an outside lug on your volume potentiometer. The middle lug on the volume potentiometer is then soldered to the tip (hot output) of your volume jack. The third lug on the volume potentiometer is bent up and soldered to the back of the volume pot for ground.

The outside lug of the volume potentiometer is then bridged to the outside lug on the tone potentiometer. The tone potentiometer also has a capacitor where one end is soldered to the middle lug and the other is soldered to ground. The third lug on the volume potentiometer is left alone.

Soldering Pickups

Your pickups have at least two wires—hot and ground. Humbuckers often have four wires. Occasionally, pickups have braided metal shielding, but we’ll focus on a basic four-conductor humbucker setup with one black hot wire and one bare or green ground.

With our four-conductor humbuckers, black will be your hot and green or bare will be your ground. Red and white will be for more complex wiring (which we’ll expand upon later). For this example, you’ll tape the red and white wires together, because we’re not going to solder them to any lugs.

Solder the hot wire from the neck pickup to one of the pickup leads and the hot wire from the bridge pickup to the other. Be mindful when doing this—it’s easy to solder pickups backwards. Most people want it so that the neck pickup is selected when the toggle is up and the bridge pickup is selected when the toggle is down.

With a single volume and tone, fixing this is as easy as rotating the toggle, so don’t stress too much! Believe us, everyone who wires guitars regularly has made this mistake at least once.

Soldering Ground

In this diagram, we’re connecting both pickups’ ground wires to the back of the volume pot. We’re taking that same grounding spot and connecting it to the ground on the pickup switch, the ground on the tone potentiometer, and the ground to the output jack. Though not shown above, we also send one ground wire to the bridge.

Ultimately, all that matters is that all of the metal parts of a guitar (pickups, switches, pots, output jack, and bridge) are connected. If you prefer to wire the pickup ground to the switch, you can do that as well.

Advanced Wiring Diagrams Using 3-Way Toggle Switches

The two pickup, one volume, one tone wiring diagram is one of our simplest, but the sky’s the limit when it comes to guitar wiring.

We have wiring diagrams that include everything from two pickup, two volume, two tone control setups to ones with multiple push-pull pots for changing the phase, splitting the coils, and more.

If you want to learn even more about swapping pickups and wiring your own guitars, check out our free Pickup Installation 101 Course. Not only do we show you the basics of soldering, we also walk you through the how and why of wiring up Les Pauls, Telecasters, and more.

Remember, wiring up guitars can be stressful, but it’s hard to beat the satisfaction you get from working on your own instrument!